It was Wednesday morning and as usual, the kids from Emerald were in the class when Argus walked in, they weren't expecting him so they figured he must have some news for them.
"Good morning" he greeted
"Good morning" they chorused
I'm sure you are all wondering why I'm here this morning.
I'll get straight to the point. You will embark on your second mission tomorrow" Argus paused, waiting for the information to sink in. No one talked, no one moved a muscle.
They just kept staring at him like they wanted him to get over with his announcement so that they could move on with their daily lives.
"This time you are up against level four demons. You will be accompanied by two second years".
They were all quiet up until that last part.
"No way" Levi countered, they nodded in agreement.
"We won't be baby sat"
"I know" Argus replied "they are just there to supervise and make sure nothing goes wrong. Ivy also did the same on their last mission"
"What is the point of calling it our mission if the second years have to tag along" Tony asked
"I'm sorry kid, but those are the orders and there is nothing I can do about it. You know the drill?? I will be waiting at the gate when you are ready" Argus concluded and left them to make their plans.
"How could they" Levi spat angrily
"They treat us like kids just because of one incident" Percy said.
The incident was clearly their fault, but they didn't want to state that because doing so will be admitting that they were weak and that they didn't want to do.
"Yeah, they know that the incident was their fault so they had to take precautions" Anna explained.
"Then what about us. After all our training and we get to be treated as kids" Levi was fuming
"It is annoying but we have got to prep. Nothing can be done about it now" Jake said, trying to reason with Levi
"Of course, something can. I'm going to the headmaster's office" Levi said moving to the door at once
"Levi" Kayla called. Levi stopped "It's of no use; you might have a hard time changing his mind, that is if you could change it at all. How bad could it be, it's just two of them"
Levi calmed down a bit 'it's just two of them, Right' "Alright, grab your stuffs lets go get ready"
The next morning, Daniel poked his head into the boys room as they were getting ready. "Hi guys, you ready?"
"Not yet, just a minute" Levi replied
They were happy at least to see a friendly face, they quickly dressed and picked their bags and they were good to go.
They met the girls at the gate, they had gotten Daniel and Margaret, Argus was already there as usual waiting to put down the barrier. Annabeth separated herself from the group and moved to touch the barrier
It felt slightly cold and had a tingling sensation, it was like a solid yet liquid transparent wall, she felt the energy around the wall, and as she fed her aura into the wall it just dissipated off the barrier.
"Alright" she heard Argus call and walked back to the group "make sure to return in one piece" he lifted the barrier and the team of nine filed out in two groups.
"Daniel" Argus called as the others left the barrier. Daniel turned back to go answer as the others strode out of earshot.
They couldn't get used to the change in atmosphere outside the school; it was like entering a whole new world.
The chirping of birds the sound of the wind throwing dry leaves around the squirrels chattering and every other sound of nature.
The different sounds just came rushing at you all at once, once you exited the school premises.
Daniel came trotting up to the boys after his little discussion with Argus; the girls had already gone ahead.
Jake had seen Daniel answer Argus with a grim expression and also he had seen him smile at Argus and wave before he went off, so he wondered what they could have been talking about.
"So, guys. We are gonna have fun" Daniel said excitedly.
Percy almost scowled at him
"Don't worry; we are not going to crash in on your parade. We will just sit back and enjoy while you guys have all the fun to yourselves" Daniel said, throwing his hand around Levi and Percy's shoulders.
Levi smiled a little "I guess we don't have a problem then"
"Yeah" he gave Levi a friendly smack on the back.
It was already afternoon and they had covered quite the distance, Daniel felt like he could sense a presence in the forest.
He quickly scanned the entire area without raising any suspicion and kept moving. The guys had already caught up with the girls up front.
When the guys met up, Margaret drew Daniel back
"What did Argus tell you back there?" she asked him
"Tell me?" Daniel feigned ignorance "Ow" he howled, Margaret knocked his head.
"Don't play dumb, I heard Argus call you and I saw you discuss something with him"
"Alright, alright. He said to give them some space and not interfere unless it was totally necessary. And he also said to keep our eyes peeled. For some reason, he has a feeling that something is wrong, but he just can't put his finger on it"
"Hmmm, that so?"
"Yeah, that's all' Daniel confirmed
"That shouldn't be a problem" Margaret agreed with him "Moreover; I want to see what they can do"
"Something is coming" Daniel said. He was immediately on alert.
"He looked front, where the first years stood, they had also stopped. They had sensed whatever it was running out the bushes towards their direction at an alarming rate.
"Guys" Daniel called. He was about to tell them to get out of the way. But, Percy moved a few steps forward and held his hand up, I got this.
Others stepped back without an argument as a blur of gray and blue flew out of the forest and into Percy.